MyFoxDetroit.com reports Bill McMachen, a businessman and former yacht dealer, paid about $4.8 billion for all 650 tax foreclosed properties at Macomb County's July 31 sale.
Authorities had announced at the auction that the properties could be sold as a package deal for the price of the back taxes, which totaled about $4.8 million. McMachen jumped at the chance.
"I got a deal nobody else could have got," he told MyFoxDetroit.com. "I paid all the back taxes that was due and that's what the county wanted."
The sale drew ire from many at the auction, who had shown up only to have all the properties gone in a matter of minutes.One Canadian investor said the county's decision was puzzling, as his company had spent weeks preparing a much higher bid.
"The price we were willing to pay is like three to four times what they're asking," he told MyFoxDetroit.com. "If we knew it was going to happen like this, we wouldn't even have spent any time. They could've made more money, I mean triple the money they made."
However, McMachen says he is willing to sell some of the houses at near-auction prices to those who are still interested. He says he has been flooded with emails since the auction with offers to buy some of the properties, and he can offer potential buyers some perks the county would be unable to.
"There's no hype they will just buy it at a realistic price," he said. "And they can look inside before they pay for it, which they cant do with the county."
He says he plans to donate the properties he can't sell to needy organizations.